Wheelbarrow.



J. A. LAWRENCE.

WHEELBARROW.

APPLICATION FILED S-EPT. 26, 1911. 1,031,454. Patented July 2, 1912.

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' To all whom t may concern:

f UNITED STATE S ree-ENT. OFFICE# l neon A. LAWRENCE, or VALPARAISO,nm'tvANA.

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p mamma of um nant. Application med September 26, 1911. Senat No. 651

Patented July 2, i912.

Be it known that I, JAoon A. LAwnnNon,

a citizen of the United States, and a resident. of Valparaiso, in thecounty of Porter and State of Indiana, have invented a new and ImprovedWheelbarrow, of which' the following is a full,'clear, and exactdescription. c

v.The present invention relates to wheelbarrows and it has for its'object to produce a wheelbarrow of simple form and so constructed thatit may be quickly turned with-l in a limited space to change 'its courseof travel and further to facilitate the dumplln of the barrow and toprotect the wheel w ic supports the same.

-VA further object A,is to produce a wheelbarrow which is capable ofhaving an uninterrupted forward dumpin movement and also'to protect and.strengt eny the hopperl more particularly at its forward end so as toreceive and resist the blow and impactsincident to they dumpingoperation.

Reference is to be had to the accompany. ing drawing constituting a.part of this specification, in which similar characters of referencedenote corresponding parts in all the views and in which- Figure 1 showsa central longitudinal section through a wheelbarrow embodying theinvention; and Fig. 2 shows an under side plan View.

In the drawing, 1 indicates the hop er which may be constructed -of anysuita le material, but which in the illustrated embodiment oftheinvention, is constructed of .somesuitable sheet metal bent to form.It

v is provided with the outwardly flaring sides 2 and 3, and the outwardlflaring ends 4 and 5, 4 being the rear en and the forward end.

The hopperl is supported upon a single Wheel 6 connected to an axle 7which turns n the brackets 8 upon the under portion of the hopper 1 andsubstantially centrally disposed withrelation to the bottom 9 of thehopper. The wheel 6 is considerably larger than is ordinarily used insuch devices, and in order to have the load contained in the hopper aslow as possible in order to lower the centernof gravity, there isprovided in the bottom 9 of the hopper a recess or wheel housing 10formed by the side plates 11, and a curved crown piece 12, the latterbeing secured at each of its ends as by the rivets 13 to the end walls 4and 5 of the hopper 1.

, allel rods 17, and t beneath the rearend 4' oft e hopper in the formof the divergin brace rods 18 which This wheel housinglis of sufficientwidth to accommodate the' peripheryof the wheel and to permit its freerevolution, and u on the inside of the hopper 1 forms somew at of apartition or division, so that if desired a smalll load of material uponone side may diier from av small `load upon the other. In order tostrengthen the hopper, it is supported upon a frame work comprising aforward cross bar 14 Ywhich is bentat 1 5 and then downwardly formingthe side braces 16 for the-frontend 5 of the ho per, From the side bare16bit passes beneat the bottom 9 of the hoppler in the form of parence.asses vupwardly are continued upfward y beyond the top edge ofthe hopperand rearwardlyin the form of handles 19. This strengthening frame issecured to the hopper in any suitable or...

convenient manner as by means of staples 20 and 21 which embrace themembers 'of th,

frameand pass through the hop er, being clenched or otherwise secured att eir inner ends, also the side bars 17 beneath the'bottom 9 of thehopper pass through bearings 22 formed in'the4 brackets 8.

In order to support the hopper while being1oaded,it is provided with thesupportin props 23 which may be conveniently forme as shown in thedrawing of a single metallic rod having the centrally disposed cross bar24 which is sup orted by brackets 25 mounted upon the rods 18, andthence bent downwardly and rearwardly as shown at 25 and by means of thelarge rounded bends 26 extended forward in the form of: braces 27, theends of which are connected to the, brackets 8.

It will be noted that the position of the wheel with relation to thecenter of gravity of the hopper is such that the load will bedistributed, the greater portion being at the rear of the axle, so thatwhile being loaded and at rest, the hopper will be supported in theposition shown in Fig. 1 by the props 23, also by reason of the relativeposition of the props 23 and the wheel, the wheelbarrow may be quicklyrolled over the floor by giving it a push in the direction in which it1s desired it shall go, and this without the necessity of raising ortilting the hopper upon its axle.

As shown in dotted lines in Fig. 1, the wheelbarrow may be quicklytilted or tipped ros I about whichtheloaded hop er moves. In 1V x v'bracing @nd-'strengthening has connected a fward direction. When'tiltedin a'rearward' direction,` theprops 23 actas the' fulcruins tilting' ina. forwardl direction, all that is necessary to do is to exert a suddenupward lift upon the handles 19 so as to throw the center of gravity tothe front of the axle Y, whereupon a releasing of the handles 19 willcause the hopper of the barrow to assume the position as shown in dottedlines at the left in Fig. 1. It is of course understood that in thisdumping operation the shock of the impact of the forward edge of thehoper against the ground will be borne by the grace rod 14 whlch willprotect the body pf the hopper from damage and injury. It will befurther noted that by placing the lwheel at substantially the centralportion of the hopper, said Wheel/is in aprotected position and in suchposition that the manipulation of the wheelbarrow is materiallyfacilitated.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secureby Letters Patent:

1. A wheelbarrow comprising a hopper, a

wheel upon which said hopper is supported, located at the central part othe hopper and ofthe hopper,^and agrame for bracing and strengthening"said .hop er, ,comprising` la front "cross r and`v su stantiallyparallel said cross bar extending beneathfth'e hopper,-r upwardlyincllm-adv at each end and provided with handles at their rear ends.

v2. A wheelbarrow comprising a hopper, a Y

wheel upon which saidhopper'is supported i located at the central partof the hopperand ofthe hopper, a frame for bracing andv strengthemngsaid hopper, comprising a m the'l A156113,"4

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40 ,c .projecting at. its periphery within the body front cross bar andsubstantially parallel c bracing and strengthening bars connected toAsa'id cross bar extending beneath the hopper, upwardly inclined at eachend and provided with handles at their rear endsfand a bent I rodforming, props for the hopper, secured thereto and extending rearwardlyanddownwardly in an inclined direction.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this speciication'in thepresence of two subscribing Witnesses.

JACOB A. LAWRENCE. Witnesses:

EDGAR GUY OsBoRNE, ALEX A. LAWRENCE.

